


Five Times Qrow Didn't Say I Love You

by CaptainLeBubbles



Category: RWBY
Genre: Established Relationship, Five Plus One, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-22
Updated: 2016-11-22
Packaged: 2018-09-01 10:45:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8621467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainLeBubbles/pseuds/CaptainLeBubbles
Summary: Qrow never stops saying I love you to James. James just has to know how to hear it.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by a quote about all the ways to say I love you. I thought it'd be nice to explore all the ways Qrow expresses his love without needing to say it.

1.

It was rare that James and Qrow got time together to just relax, with no responsibilities calling them away, dividing their attention, or weighing on their mind. There were no meetings to prepare for, no missions looming, no nieces to fret over; all was right with the world, if only in their small bubble of space and time.

They decided to watch a movie, something not particularly intense or heavy because they just wanted to relax. They had popcorn and beer, what Qrow called “the good stuff”, because James never got anything less than the best, after all, and were all ready to pick the movie.

And that was about the point that they remembered the reason that they rarely watched movies together was they could never _agree_  on them.

James was a fan of Ravioli Vacs, movies celebrating the triumph of law over lawlessness in the crime-ridden wastes of Vacuo. Qrow pointed out that half the reason Vacuo was so full of crime-ridden wastes was because of Atlas, and declared that they were going to watch a musical, specifically the new one about the founders of Vale that had become so popular lately.

They argued for nearly an hour, the pros of one movie vs the other. The popcorn got cold. The beers got warm. They debated first in one direction, then in the other, until Qrow was lying with his head in James’ lap, hands held over him and waving them around in time with his argument. James had the fingers of one hand tangled in Qrow’s hair, and despite the argument, was unable to keep the fond look out of his face while he watched Qrow explain- in excruciating detail- why _Merle_  was the superior option.

Suddenly Qrow stopped, and tilted his head slightly. His eyes softened. His hands came down to rest on his chest.

“Okay,” he said. “We can watch ‘ _The Tall, the Small, and the Pretty_ ’.”

“What?” James looked baffled. “But you were on such a roll.”

“Yeah, but.” Qrow raised his hands and flapped them around a little. “We’ve been at this an hour and we’re not gonna decide any time soon unless one of us just relents.” He shifted one of his hands over to tangle it in James’ hair, pleased by the lack of product, which meant it was loose and fluffy. He gave James a fond, sleepy smile. “There’ll be other movie nights. We can watch _Merle_  next time.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” He moved his other hand over the join the first, pushing James’ hair back from his forehead. It was an awkward position; James leaned into the touch to make it easier on him. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

2.

James didn’t often take field missions these days, being far too busy with his work at the school, on the council, with the army, and in the labs, but occasionally, usually between terms at the academy, he took a few to remind himself what it was like being a real hunter, to remind himself what he was training his kids for. It was important that he didn’t forget what was being put on the line every time a hunter accepted a mission, even a minor one.

Qrow understood, or claimed to, but he still teased him about it when he was signing on for his missions.

“Imagine the heart attack those people are going to have when you get out to that village,” Qrow said, kicking his feet idly back and forth from his seat at the end of the bed. He’d been fidgety all day; James was just glad he wasn’t putting footprints on the counter anymore. “Imagine sending for a hunter to deal with a problem and when one turns out it’s James-fucking-Ironwood.”

“It’s not _that_  big a deal,” James said, double checking his bag. A change of clothes, his toolkit, extra rounds, a bedroll. The last was mere precaution; there was no way of knowing what conditions would be available in the village, and if they had to evacuate suddenly he didn’t want to have to take their own valuable supplies while they waited for aid.

“Sure it is.” Qrow kicked his feet a little harder. “You’re _General Ironwood_. The whole world knows your face, for better or worse. You’re in _gossip columns._ People are trying to figure out who your mysterious new sweetheart is. You’re a _celebrity_. And they’re just a tiny village and you’re gonna show up all ‘hello how can I be of assistance’ and they’re gonna _flip_."

James shook his head. Picked up his pistols to make sure they were one hundred percent in order. He’d never understand why the gossip columns cared so much about who he was dating- why did it matter? And, more importantly, why hadn’t they figured it out? He and Qrow weren’t broadcasting their relationship, sure, but they weren’t exactly being _subtle_. Qrow stayed with him whenever he was in Atlas, they were glued at the hip when they were together, they were always in the public eye… but everyone brushed off Qrow as a possibility. And Qrow called _James_  oblivious.

There was a knock at the door, a precise _tappa-tappa-tappa_  that could only come from one person. “Come in, Winter,” James said, still looking over his pistols, and when the front door opened,. “We’re back here.”

Winter’s face was red when she entered the bedroom, stiffer than usual, arms folded behind her back and gaze fixed at some point above their heads. Qrow smirked, but James just shot him a warning look. “Winter?”

“My apologies, sir,” she said. “I didn’t mean to intrude.”

“You’re not intruding,” James assured her, shooting Qrow another Look when the other curled his lip in disagreement of this statement. “I was just checking I had everything ready.”

“Of course, sir.” Winter finally lowered her gaze, though James noticed she refused to look at Qrow. He suppressed a sigh. One day he’d get those two to get along- or at least stop hating each other. He wasn’t a miracle worker, after all. “ _Are_  you ready?”

“I believe so.” He holstered his pistols, satisfied with their condition, and picked up his pack. “And you?”

“Yes, sir.”

The three walked to the front door together, and once they were there Qrow shot Winter a look.

“Beat it,” he said, and tugged at James’ arm. Winter’s face went red, but she stepped outside. James sighed.

“You could have just asked.”

“Takes too long.” 

Qrow tugged James down into a kiss, long and tender and slow. There was a tense edge to his eyes when they pulled away, but James didn’t press, or bother to reassure him that the mission was a minor one, with little danger. James knew as well as Qrow- no, not as well as Qrow, he reminded himself, because Qrow spent most of his life in the field- how easy a minor mission could become a major one.

“Take care, Jim,” Qrow murmured.

“Of course,” James said back. He pulled Qrow into another kiss, and then they parted and took a small step back, putting a little space between them. James moved back to the door and Qrow followed him out into the hall, where Winter was waiting.

Qrow walked with them all the way to their ship, hands shoved deep into his pockets, a scowl adorning his features. James resisted the urge to wrap an arm around his shoulders. Qrow didn’t like public displays of affection, at least not from anyone not his nieces, and he wouldn’t thank James for it.

When they reached the shipyard, he waited at the railing while they headed to their ship, and just before they stepped onto the gangplank, Qrow called out, “Hey Winter! Keep an eye on him for me, okay?”

Winter looked startled at this- James could see the perfect ‘o’ her mouth made, but Qrow just smirked. “Keep him out of trouble. See you later, Jim.”

Then he waved, and turned to slouch away, Winter still too stunned to respond, but James smiling slightly. He rested a hand on Winter’s shoulder and gave her a reassuring squeeze before gesturing for her to continue up the gangplank.

3.

James loved it when he was able to visit Qrow in Patch. When their schedules lined up well enough that James was able to take a few weeks off at the same time as Qrow, and take his private ship out to see him. It was great to be able to see Qrow’s family, his brother, his nieces, even his dog. To see him _with_  them, so much less tense than he so often was.

They weren’t there right now. The girls were away at Signal, Taiyang was on a mission. There was only the dog, Qrow looking after him.

It was kind of nice. Taiyang’s house- Qrow spent too much time in the field and too much time with James to bother getting his own- was in the middle of nowhere, so there was no one around for miles. It was just the two of them.

James still had work to do, though. Not as much- he was on vacation, after all- but his project with Dr. Polendina was in its final stages, and he needed to keep an eye on the Academy, to make sure his students were doing well. Even with all of his messages being run through heavy filters, some still managed to get through. This seemed to annoy Qrow, who complained about not getting him all to himself, but James always just kissed him and reminded Qrow that it was he that James had on priority, occasional call notwithstanding. Qrow always just kissed him back and told him he better not forget it.

It was the buzzing of James’ scroll that woke them a little too early for taste. It was Dr. Polendina’s alert, or he’d have just let it go to voicemail, but with the new PNI so close to completion- with the project he’d poured so much of his heart into almost ready- he was going to answer whenever he was called.

“Ironwood,” he said, while Qrow buried his face into James’ shoulder and grumbled. “Hi, Josef. Have you got good news for me?”

He listened while the man talked, rambling on about the breakthrough he’d just made- he’d found a way around the emotional memory issues they’d been struggling with, had made it so that the PNI would be able to really _remember_  the things that made it happy, would have object permanence with the people and things that brought it joy.

James was laughing by the end of the explanation. The PNI was important to him, not just as a highly advanced piece of machinery but as a chance to create a living being artificially. For it to be able to create bonds was a big part of this- and now his friend had made it possible.

He finally ended the call, and turned his grin on Qrow, who was propped up on his arms watching James with a fond look on his face. “Good news about Penny, then?”

“PNI,” James corrected. “We haven’t decided on a name yet.” Not until they were sure. James had been firm in that regard. No name until they were _sure_.

“Whatever.” Qrow lowered himself and burrowed into James’ shoulder with a yawn. “So good news?”

“Josef sorted out the emotional permanence we’d been having trouble with. When we get the PNI up and running, it’ll be able to form bonds.”

“With you,” Qrow said, and James didn’t bother to deny it. Qrow yawned. “We’ll have to bring them out to meet the girls, once you get them up and running. Give ‘em friends their own- well, I’d say _age_ , but..”

“No, I know what you mean.” James wrapped his arms around Qrow, settling deeper into the covers. He wasn’t sure how soon he’d be able to introduce the girls to the PNI, when it would be ready. Didn’t want to start making plans until he knew more. It would probably be another year before it was ready at all.

James became aware that Qrow had leaned his head back enough to look at him. He raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“Nothing.” Qrow shook his head, and buried it in James’ shoulder once more. “I’m happy for you, that’s all.”

4.

James was not in the habit of getting injured.

Oh, his friends would beg to differ, of course, while staring very pointedly at his right side, and he supposed that was technically true, yes, he had _once_  been in the habit of getting injured, but that was before and now that he had lots of shiny new parts he didn’t get injured as easily because metal was a lot harder to damage than flesh and bone. And while he might not have _much_  aura, it only had to work on healing half of him, and that helped too.

Or so he said.

If someone were to ask Qrow what _he_  thought, he’d say it was all bullshit. That James got injured as much as any other hunter, maybe a little more since his aura was kind of low, but he had a bad habit of just shrugging off his injuries and ignoring them until either they healed or someone bullied him into getting medical attention for them.

Usually Qrow.

“It is _not_  that big a _deal_ , Qrow,” James protested, while Qrow ignored him and continued poking him in the direction of the bathroom and medical attention. “It’s just a little blood, I’ll be fine.”

“It is not ‘just’ a little blood, Jim,” Qrow said. He spun James around and sat him down on the toilet seat, glaring down at him sternly. “It is a _lot_  of blood, and it is coming out of you.”

“You’re blowing it out of proportion.”

“You just keep that compress on it.” Qrow made sure James was holding the compress to his arm while he started rummaging through the medicine cabinet. There was this to say, at least: James had a very well-stocked first aid kit kept in his bathroom, and well-organized as well. The one Tai kept at his place was not nearly as organized, and it was not as extensive, either. Not that Tai didn’t keep medical supplies around- just that between Ruby and Yang, he went through them pretty quickly. 

At least Yang was going off to Beacon soon- once she got some proper training, they wouldn’t have to worry about her getting any serious injuries, at least until she graduated. Small favors.

It didn’t take long for Qrow to dig out the bandages and the gauze pads and the disinfectant, and he got to work cleaning and bandaging James’ arm. Once he’d got it cleaned off, he had to admit that James was right, it _wasn’t_  that bad. It was long, though, and the cut was too deep for a regular adhesive bandage, so until his aura finally kicked in and got to work on it, it would still need to be kept covered and compressed.

“There,” Qrow said, once he’d got it wrapped up. James had gone quiet on him while he’d worked, staring at his arm in almost a trance. Now he snapped his attention back to Qrow and gave him a weak smile.

“Am I good to go, _Doc_?”

Qrow managed a weak smile of his own, and caught James’ head in his hands, tilting it back so that he could lean down and press fluttering kisses to his cheeks before settling on his lips for a proper kiss. He leaned back.

“Yeah, I think you’re good.” He helped James to his feet and they headed back into the living room to clean up the vase they’d knocked over.

5.

Anniversaries and birthdays and gift-giving holidays were some of James’ favorite times of year. Qrow was too proud to accept all the pampering and spoiling that James wanted to give him the rest of the year round. Despite his jokes when they’d first gotten together- jokes about wanting James to “ravish him and buy him pretty things”- he’d rejected James’ attempts to do, well, the latter anyway. He usually tended to be pretty happy about being ravished.

James tended towards generosity, and he itched to shower Qrow in gifts and tokens. But Qrow only allowed small things- trinkets and baubles, cheap, shiny junk that tended to pile up in his room in Tai’s house, things that were low effort and lower value. James got them for him, but he wanted to do _more_.

So when it came to their anniversary, to Qrow’s birthday, to the twice-yearly Solstice festivals, James went all out, while Qrow pretended to be very put-upon before thanking him with kisses and demands to get to the ravishing part.

This year they would be spending the Winter Solstice festival in Atlas. With the Vytal festival approaching, James knew he would soon be leaving home for awhile, and would probably be in Vale for the Summer Solstice. Besides, Vale’s Solstice festivals had nothing on Atlas, because in the deep dark at the top of Remnant the colored lights danced across the sky, lighting up the festival and bathing the world in their glory.

And people thought Atlesians didn’t understand beauty.

At least Qrow got it, or anyway James assumed he did. At any rate, he understood that James was going to spoil him horribly with gifts for all four days of the festival, and he seemed pretty okay with that.

“You don’t have to get me gifts for all four days,” he said, when James mentioned adding gift-opening to their daily schedule, and asked Qrow what time they should do it. “Day two is lovers, the rest of the days should be for everyone else.”

“Day one is for friends,” James said, ticking off on his fingers. “You and I go back to our early days as huntsman, and you’ve been one of the truest and most trusted friends I’ve ever had for all of that time.”

“Most of that time,” Qrow amended for him. They both remembered that disastrous first meeting. Qrow had almost lost an eye. James _had_  lost a hand, but it was already metal at least, so it had been okay, if inconvenient.

“Day two is lovers,” James continued, and then paused when Qrow leaned forward and kissed him soundly. There was a moment’s hesitation when Qrow pulled away, while he tried to get his brain back on track. “Day- day three is colleagues. Both of us are teachers, both of us are huntsmen, both of us are members of Ozpin’s inner circle, and in all three of those things we work closely together.”

“I mean, if you count the occasional guest lecture and training mission and arguing in Ozpin’s office as working closely together, sure.”

“And day four is family,” James finished, ignoring him. “And Qrow, if you’re not my family then I don’t know who is.”

“All right, all right.” Qrow waved his hands in surrender. “There’s nothing I can say to make you stop loading me down with presents so I guess I’ll let it go.”

“Does it really bother you?” James frowned. “If it genuinely bothers you, I’ll stop.”

There was a long silence, while Qrow seemed to struggle with his answer, before finally shaking his head. “It doesn’t bother me. Not really. It’s just- it’s all so _much_. You give me so many wonderful things and I can never repay it.”

“Qrow, you give me yourself.” It was James’ turn to pull Qrow into a breath-stopping kiss. “You give me your love, and your companionship, and your acceptance. You give me your most vulnerable moments, your joy, your trust.” Another kiss. “That’s more than enough- and you don’t need to repay anything. That’s the point of a gift- that I’m offering you these things freely, because it brings me joy to give you things.”

“Aww, Jim…” Qrow leaned forward and rested his forehead on James’ shoulder, blushing. “I had no idea. Of course. If you want to shower me in gifts- I mean, I guess there’s only two Solstice festivals a year anyway…”

This got a smile out of James, which Qrow counted as worth it alone, and he hurried off to get Qrow’s gift. Qrow fumbled under the couch for the wrapped package he’d stowed under there.

“I got you something too,” he said, when James returned with a box about the size of a book. “Here, you open yours first, I want to savor this.”

“All right.” James sat down and Qrow leaned into his side eagerly while he tore meticulously at the silver foil Qrow had wrapped it in. It was enough to drive Qrow mad, watching the slow, careful way that James plucked at the tape. James knew this about him. It was why he did it.

James’ gift was about the same size as Qrow’s, and whatever it was was contained in a deep blue velvet box. James knew as soon as he saw it what it was- his gift for Qrow was in a matching red box, and he suppressed the laugh that came from realizing they’d gotten each other the same gift. Instead he opened the box and took out the round flask sitting inside of it.

“It’s got that curly viney flowery nonsense you like so much on it,” Qrow said, resting his chin on James’ shoulder. “Same as on your revolvers. I took a picture and showed it to them so they’d get it right. I know you much you like things to match.”

There was a nervous energy around him, despite that he was sitting still, and a tightness to his eyes, but James just reached up to hold his head steady so he could turn enough to kiss him. “It’s perfect,” he murmured, when he’d pulled away. “Thank you.”

+1.

“Ozpin is sending me out into the field.”

It was such an innocuous sentence, the way he said it. Not ominous at all. More like he was talking about his plans for the day. “I’m picking up Mistrali for lunch, want some dumplings?” “I can’t go out tonight, I have papers to grade.” “Ozpin is sending me out into the field.”

Nowhere in his words or tone was there the suggestion that it would be weeks, maybe months, before they saw each other again, or heard from one another, or that James would get any indication that Qrow was alive and well and safe.

Nowhere to suggest that he was trying to find out what their enemy was up to, whether she had found any of the other Maidens, how much of a force she had, whether there was anything they could do to save Amber.

Nowhere to suggest the sheer level of danger he was going to be in.

“How soon are you leaving?”

“Tomorrow.” Qrow shrugged. “Got a ship dropping me off near Vale so I can head out, it leaves in the morning. Easier than flying the whole way myself.”

“So we’ve just got tonight, then?” James raised a hand and rested it against Qrow’s cheek. Qrow closed his eyes and leaned into James’ touch.

“Yeah.” He turned enough to press a kiss to James’ palm. “Want to get Mistrali for dinner?”

They spent a subdued evening together, eating Mistrali in heavy silence. They didn’t talk about Qrow’s mission, or anything that it meant, instead turning to uncomfortable small talk instead. Qrow clearly had something on his mind, but James didn’t pry, and when Qrow set their half-eaten food aside and climbed into his lap and kissed him hungrily, he kissed him back just as hungrily before carrying him back to their room.

James woke the next morning to Qrow’s face buried in his chest. He brought a hand up to tangle in Qrow’s hair, and was surprised when Qrow leaned back to look at him.

“Hey,” James murmured, stroking Qrow’s hair gently. “Morning.”

“I love you,” Qrow said, and buried his face in James’ chest again. “I know I don’t say it enough, but I didn’t want to go off for ages without telling you before I went.”

James carried on stroking Qrow’s hair, and thought back to all the things Qrow did for him. He dropped a kiss to the top of Qrow’s head. “You say it plenty. And I love you, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is probably clear in the fic, but James refers to Penny the way he does because as long as he refers to her as a thing then he won't get his hopes up in case they fail.


End file.
